Zambia coach drafts 5 COSAFA U20 winners in U23 team

Zambia U23 coach Osward Mutapa has drafted five players from the victorious 2022 COSAFA U20 Cup side for this weekend’s 2023 U23 AFCON qualifier against Sierra Leone.

Young Chipolopolo hosts Sierra Leone in a second round, final leg qualifier at National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka.

Zambia snatched a last minute 1-1 away draw against Sierra Leone in the first leg draw played in Monrovia on October 22.

THE FIVE PLAYERS

The Zambia U20 call-ups are Green Eagles’ Emmanuel Mukosha, Kafue Celtic defender Mathews Banda and Zesco United midfielder Songa Chipokya.

Red Arrows defender Happy Nsiku plus Shamuel Academy midfielder and Zambia U20 captain Dominic Kanda are the other  Zambia U20 call-ups.

The five join 2022 COSAFA U20 Golden Glove winner Jeban Tembo who jumped straight into the U23 team after landing from winning COSAFA U20 title in Eswatini a week ago.

Tembo went on to start against Sierra who played their home match in Liberia because Freetown does not have a CAF-certified stadium.

“They are looking OK but with a little room to improve. We need to work extra hard than we did in Liberia,” Mutapa said.

Meanwhile, Zambia entered its second day of training since landing back from West Africa on Monday.

“Yesterday (Tuesday) we had a recovery session after a long flight that took two days. We just had to recover. I would say Wednesday is the first serious training that we have had,” Mutapa said.

But Mutapa has one injury concern in the form of right-back Brian Musema who limped off in the first leg and has been restricted to light training.

“But for now, it is only Brian who is not in full training but the others are in full training and were all able to finish. They all did very well in training,” Mutapa said.

The winner this Saturday will advance to the final round to be played next march.

Zambia or Sierra  Leone await the winner of this Sunday’s fixture in  Alexandria between hosts Egypt and Eswatini who played out to a scoreless first leg result on October 23.